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13Sep2018

Spring into Spring

When was the last time you jumped on a trampoline? Unless you’ve got little people in your life, I’m guessing, not for years, right?! I remember I used to love leaping into the air on ‘tramps’ when I was little, and was so envious of friends who had trampolines, because our family never had one. I was always pestering those friends ‘let’s go play at your place!’ because then we could bounce on their trampoline. When I bought a house recently, one of the selling points (I promise it wasn’t the only one!) was that it has an inground trampoline in the backyard – finally my childhood dream, realised! And just in time for my own child Axel, to be able to experience and enjoy the fun of bouncing around.

Bouncing on a trampoline isn’t just fun for fun’s sake, there are numerous other benefits. Here are some of the positive physical perks of springing around:

Improves cardio fitness. Just try bouncing around for a couple of minutes and feel how much your heart rate elevates!

Strengthens bones. The increased gravitational force on your body forces your bones to adapt in response – by becoming stronger. NB: this increased force can also make itself felt in your pelvis – make sure you go for a wee before you start bouncing around!

Flushes your lymphatic system. Your lymphatic system helps fight viruses and bacteria, and helps move waste out of your body. It doesn’t have its own circulation, so relies on the movement of your muscles to keep it moving. As you jump up and down, your muscles move, ergo your lymphatic system flushes and you keep your ‘pipes’ clean.

Strengthens muscles, ligaments and tendons. Just like the increased gravitational force on your body means your bones adapt by getting stronger to cope with that force, same same with your soft tissues. Best of all, these strength adaptations happen without the repetitive jarring force that comes with high impact on a hard surface.

Improves balance and coordination. This is really important, especially because as we age, unless we specifically work at it, our ability to balance really starts to take a tumble. What could be a more fun way to better our balance than by bouncing on a trampoline?!

Of course, it’s super important that you are careful and safe when jumping on a trampoline, so that means ensuring your trampoline itself is safe, and that you have your doctor’s permission to do high impact exercise. Once you have the all clear, you can spring into Spring by getting yourself onto a trampoline – fitness and fun, here you come!